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Topic: bears... for the 100th time. (Read 1889 times)

I know this topic goes hand in hand with bee keeping I suppose. I didn't THINK we had regular bear activity in my neighborhood but I seem to be WRONG. We had a bear jump our fence on the side of our house, the opposite side I have my poor little hive on. It's only a matter of time before he works his way over to it I suppose. It doesn't go through our garbages but my guess is the hive would attract him.SOOOO, If I install an electric fence it would just cover my garden area where the hive is. Maybe 12' x 12' or not much larger than that. I have an outlet just outside the garden and that is also where the electric comes into the house so there is a grounding rod right there. I haven't done enough research on the subject so I have my homework cut out for me. I can also do solar since it's the sunniest side of the house. But If I did electric can I have it on a timer where it comes on at dusk and off at dawn. I can't imagine they're out wandering about during the most daylight, but could be wrong on that account too. I do know that I would have to bait it though.Would a motion sensor spot light deter him without any other deterrents? probably a silly question.is an electric fence really my only option?

I have small dogs but they are house dogs so they aren't out when I think the bears are out.

a solar fence works fine actually, but if you have a outlet right there, thats the way to go really, and a lot cheaper. you have the added expense of batteries/etc, if the kit you get doesn't come with one. you 'can' have the fence turn on at dusk until dawn, with any plug in device set on a simple timer, or light senor but really there isn't much need. it doesn't cost hardly anything to run it while it is in stand-by mode. if your dogs are out, they will learn fairly quickly not to go to the fence if they decide to at all....and then there is always having bear steak for dinner option. make sure you do not get a small electric fence setup for only squirrels/etc or such. yu want one for horses and cattle, if not rated specifically for bears.

the key to making the electric fence work is to bait it so that they hit it with their mouth or nose. if you don't do that, they'll just plow through it.

lots of posts about it on here, so you should find good info.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called the government. They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

I had a chicken pen about 300 ft away from my bee hives. Bear came 3 different times that I am aware of and killed a total of 30 chickens. The state game warden came out and set up a trap, but never caught the bear.So anyway, my point is that this bear seemed to like chicken more than bees.Maybe you need chickens instead of electric fence.

you can make gates in your electric fence. you'll just have to open both when you go through.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called the government. They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

Maybe I'm missing something here. Bears come in your backyard and your Ok with it. I can understand bears tearing up hives in the woods and feeling unable to control the situation. Isn't it a little bit dangerous having an apex predator in the backyard? This isn't like deer eating your garden. I don't know about the laws in Jersey but where I live if that happened and the DNR didn't do something about it I would drop the bear myself. Is this a bad thing?

We have bears in our yard all the time. You need a fence with a serious charger, and it has to be grounded really well, especially if you have sandy soil. We wrap bacon in tinfoil and hang that on the fence to train bears. As KathyP said, you need to get them on the nose or lips, preferably while they're standing on wet ground or metal (we have hog panels laying flat on the ground around the outside of our fence). Bears have a whole different threshold of pain than we do. They eat bees for fun.

And I don't know how they sense it, but they know whether or not the fence is on.

A black bear was spotted about a mile from our place, and I saw a bobcat a few weeks ago. I keep the hive strapped to the stand with a ratchet strap...probably wouldn't deter a bear though. Wildlife is losing so much habitat I hate to run anything off. I'm considering woven wire fence with electric at the top. It would keep the bear, coons and possums out, as well as the stray cats. Creating a bird safe zone and protect the hive at the same time. Guess you could call me a "tree huggin conservative".

Maybe I'm missing something here. Bears come in your backyard and your Ok with it. I can understand bears tearing up hives in the woods and feeling unable to control the situation. Isn't it a little bit dangerous having an apex predator in the backyard? This isn't like deer eating your garden. I don't know about the laws in Jersey but where I live if that happened and the DNR didn't do something about it I would drop the bear myself. Is this a bad thing?

Us cajuns are accustomed to eating many things and this far south no bears but if it was me I would drop him too and have some bear burgers! :-D

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Psalm 19:9-10The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Maybe I'm missing something here. Bears come in your backyard and your Ok with it. I can understand bears tearing up hives in the woods and feeling unable to control the situation. Isn't it a little bit dangerous having an apex predator in the backyard? This isn't like deer eating your garden. I don't know about the laws in Jersey but where I live if that happened and the DNR didn't do something about it I would drop the bear myself. Is this a bad thing?

Us cajuns are accustomed to eating many things and this far south no bears but if it was me I would drop him too and have some bear burgers! :-D

That's my way of seeing it. In any case bears are omnivores. When it comes to eating they don't cull much. Your bees are fair game so are your pets. I feel that they are right on line with gators. I sure wouldn't want one of them in my backyard either.

We have bears in our yard all the time. You need a fence with a serious charger, and it has to be grounded really well, especially if you have sandy soil. We wrap bacon in tinfoil and hang that on the fence to train bears. As KathyP said, you need to get them on the nose or lips, preferably while they're standing on wet ground or metal.

We do an electric fence charged by battery with tinfoil hanging from the wires. Bears tore up my hives once a couple years ago but we haven't hda any trouble sense, either through luck or the fence. The fence looked like it'd gotten some bear activity, so hopefully they learned.

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The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. ---Emily Dickinson

I am planning on setting a hive done past North Bay, Ontario...black bear country where there is NO electricity. I thought of buying thorn bushes and surround the hive plus collect the thorny leaves of Christmas Holly to spread out on the ground. I don't like the idea of glass. This would be placed on the outside of a fenced that is topped and sided with wire. OR, think of a way of hanging them...the Russian bees. I don't plan on gathering honey just bringing this particular bee into my wooded area that I visit spring and summer. I think that in time, thorn bushes would make the bears think twice.